Er’er was trembling with fear.

Although she had prepared an excuse if Kan Ze was discovered inside her, if it happened, her life would hang by a thread at the edge of a cliff.

Too dangerous!

With this in mind, Er’er didn’t dare stay long in his presence and stammered: “Does Master have any other instructions?”

The great master’s expression grew even stranger as he said glumly: “Just focus on your cultivation, nothing else.”

Nothing else? Did that mean she would just stay by his side?

Shuddering, Er’er shook her head inwardly and quickly counted on her fingers: “Master, I can roast sweet potatoes, roast chicken, and roast corn. Which would you like?”

Here it was, the first step to win his favor—always offering him food.

Li Ye covered his forehead and sighed. After tens of thousands of years, these young girls’ tactics remained unchanged. Unwilling to cultivate properly, they tried every possible way to capture his stomach.

…

…

However, while others offered him exquisite pastries and precious immortal soups, his undeserved disciple was more practical, actually wanting to give him roasted food.

After tens of thousands of years of cultivation, Li Ye had long ago abstained from grains and meat, having no interest in such things at all.

But the little creature looked so sincere, counting on her powder-white fingers while gazing at him expectantly, as if just one negative word from him would immediately make her droop her eyes in disappointment.

Fine, Li Ye thought disdainfully, he would satisfy her once. After all, this disciple was both lazy and stupid. He needed to offer some encouragement first, then slowly guide her onto the right path.

So he said: “Roast corn.”

The little creature immediately let out a cheer upon hearing this, as if she had received some tremendous blessing. She happily bowed to him, then skipped and hopped toward the main entrance of the Upper Bing Palace.

Her excited expression, eyes sparkling with stars, made Li Ye snort with laughter.

She was too easily satisfied.

He had merely agreed to eat something she made—was it that big of a deal?

As soon as she stepped outside the Upper Bing Palace gates, Er’er noticed the weather wasn’t good. Above her head hung dark, heavy clouds, with faint sounds of thunder.

Thunder didn’t appear without reason in the Ninth Heaven. By the looks of it, some immortal must have completed a thousand years of cultivation and was about to undergo the heavenly tribulation.

Er’er didn’t pay much attention and hummed a little tune as she went to the nearby immortal mountain to find corn.

But after walking just a few steps, the thunder grew several times louder than before, almost deafening, nearly shaking her off the cloud she was walking on.

Which immortal was so powerful? Er’er clicked her tongue. Usually, at the thousand-year cultivation level, one would only endure a small thunder tribulation for a few hours, with thunder sounds similar to mortal rainstorms. This thunder, however, sounded as if it was going to strike dead some Upper God who had cultivated for ten thousand years.

Fortunately, she wasn’t ambitious.

Shrinking her neck, Er’er thought timidly that with her mediocre eight hundred years of cultivation, she was still a long way from reaching a thousand years.

Wait.

Suddenly remembering something, Er’er stopped in her tracks.

Before coming to the Ninth Heaven, she indeed only had eight hundred years of cultivation, but during her practice, hadn’t great master Li Ye vaguely, perhaps, seemingly helped her open her meridians, freely giving her two hundred years of cultivation?

Eight hundred years plus two hundred years, how coincidental—exactly one thousand years.

Looking down at her ten extended fingers, Er’er’s smile gradually faded.

The wild wind howled around her, making the ornamental pendants in her hair chime loudly. Lightning tore open the sky, illuminating everything in a ghastly white. The heavenly thunder gathered more and more intensely, as if it would devour half the sky, with an earth-shaking momentum.

Rain mixed with the wind, blowing into the Upper Bing Palace.

Li Ye was listening to someone report on Zhen Huan Gong’s group’s movements when he suddenly felt a coolness on the back of his hand.

He turned his head and glanced at the weather outside.

Beside him, Zhu Yan noticed his movement and quickly said: “Reporting to the Upper God, there are three young immortals undergoing tribulation today, including the one you just accepted. Your disciple is among them.”

“Three?”

“Yes, Zhen Huan Gong and Upper God Qian Tian’s disciples are also facing tribulation today. Those two masters set up altars early to protect their disciples during the tribulation.”

Li Ye heard this and laughed coldly: “Do they also help crack the shell when a chick hatches?”

Zhu Yan scratched his head: “That’s the idea, but as masters, they naturally worry about their disciples.”

That’s other people’s masters, Li Ye thought as he withdrew his gaze, tapping the armrest of his throne to signal him to continue with the important matters.

The tribulation was the immortal realm’s way of natural selection. What was the point of forcefully protecting someone? If his clumsy, undeserving disciple couldn’t pass through it, it wasn’t his concern.

The raindrop on the back of his hand quickly dried in the wind, but outside, the rain fell harder and harder.

Zhen Huan Gong and Qian Tian stood on the altar, with their two disciples kneeling at their feet, trembling slightly.

Before them, thunder rolled continuously. Dozens of lightning bolts had already struck down, leaving holes throughout the sea of clouds. But rather than diminishing, the thunder seemed to be growing louder.

“What’s going on?” Qian Tian formed a hand seal and asked puzzledly, “We’ve never seen such a display in previous years.”

Zhen Huan Gong also found it strange: “There must be some mistake; a thousand-year tribulation shouldn’t be this severe.”

Qian Tian looked down at his disciple, wondering if he might be some once-in-ten-thousand-years genius, hence heaven giving such a challenging test.

Zhen Huan Gong also glanced at his disciple, thinking along similar lines. When the two masters’ eyes met, both smiled somewhat insincerely.

If a rare genius were to emerge, who wouldn’t hope it was from their faction?

“Ahhh!”

Amidst the thunder, a series of screams came closer and closer.

Everyone on the altar was startled and looked ahead to see a small immortal in tattered clothes being chased by a string of lightning, jumping up and down frantically. She had several charred spots on her body, and her hair was in complete disarray. As she came closer, they could see her eyes were brimming with tears.

“Help me!” Er’er clung to the stone pillar at the base of the altar and cried miserably, “Someone pull me up!”

Qian Tian, seeing her pitiful state, extended his immortal binding rope to pull her up.

However, before the rope could touch the small immortal, a fiery red sleeve more terrifying than the heavenly thunder came from the horizon.

With a “snap,” the binding rope was flung back onto the altar.

Qian Tian was stunned, and the expressions of everyone present changed.

Er’er’s hand was still extended in mid-air—helpless, weak, and pitiful.

She stiffly turned her head, unsurprised to see great master Li Ye’s unsympathetic face.

He walked slowly toward her on a fiery red cloud, then pointed to the thundering area ahead.

“Go over there.”

Er’er was about to cry. Her meager cultivation was nowhere near enough to withstand such heavenly thunder—it was painfully unbearable.

“Master…”

“My Li Sect doesn’t accept useless disciples who can’t even pass through tribulation.”

“…”

A deathly silence fell over the altar. The two protected disciples froze, their faces drained of color.

Zhen Huan Gong darkened his face and said: “Li Ye, just because you lack humanity yourself doesn’t mean you should slander others. Protecting disciples during tribulation is precisely what a master should do.”

Li Ye looked up at him, his ashen eyes lightly scanning Zhen Huan Gong’s meridians from head to toe. He gave a measured laugh without saying anything.

Zhen Huan Gong felt greatly humiliated and immediately wanted to attack.

Qian Tian, beside him, pulled him back.

“What are you doing?” Zhen Huan Gong was very displeased.

Qian Tian shook his head, gesturing for him to look below.

The pitifully small immortal was taking heavy steps, walking one by one toward the center of the sea of clouds.